There are times and spaces that are considered more sacred or blessed than others; times and spaces of increased baraka, when and where the veil between this world and the unseen is thinner, and time itself is expanded.
Ramadan is one of those times, as is the final third of the night, when from the lowest heaven, Allah asks, “Is there anyone to invoke Me, so that I may respond to invocation? Is there anyone to ask Me, so that I may grant him his request? Is there anyone seeking My forgiveness, so that I may forgive him?” 1
Concerning spaces, three in particular are established by scripture as the most sanctified on earth: the Harams or Sanctuaries of Makkah, Madina and Jerusalem, where the horizontal and the vertical converge and the terrestrial and the heavenly meet.
The Prophet ﷺ stated that “Allah made Makkah sacred the day He created the heavens and the earth, and it is sacred until the Day of Resurrection.”2 Madina too, he ﷺ said, for believers “is the best place. If only they could understand its virtue fully, they would never leave it…”3 The sanctity of the Bayt al-Maqdis of Jerusalem, is similarly established by Allah in the Qur’an, where He describes it as a “holy land”4 and its sacredness is attested to several times. We are told too, that in the end days, the Harams will be safe from the Dajjal, who will be barred from entering their gates.
In these sanctified spaces, our very prayers carry more weight, and as only those who have visited and experienced them can attest to, they feel different to other places; there is a quality that exists which cannot be described by words, only felt in its presence. This quality is often attributed to baraka, “the spiritual influence or benediction that comes from above and pervades everything, outwardly and inwardly, to make it flourish.”5
In these spaces of baraka, time is expanded instead of constricted; this quality enables one to do more in these places within the same period of objective time.6 Anecdotally at least, this seems to be a common experience of those who visit the Holy Cities.
The three sanctuaries can be described as the meeting places of the horizontal (terrestrial or material) and the vertical (heavenly or spiritual). The Ka’ba is both the first place of worship on earth (horizontal) and the central point of the universe (vertical), above which are the central points of the seven heavens, each with their own Bayt. The Bayt al-Izza, the House of Might in the lowest heaven, is the place from where Allah’s call to His servants in the early hours is made. The Ka’ba, Bayt Allah, is thereby connected to the Bayt al-Ma’mur, the “frequently visited house”7, in the seventh heaven, that the Messenger of God ﷺ saw on his Night Journey.8
As Dr Mostafa Al-Badawi has explained, “Whatever happens in one dimension has repercussions throughout the hierarchy. The visible and invisible worlds are in constant interaction, both for good and evil. The effect of faith and virtuous behaviour is to unlock the gates between this world and the higher ones and to shut the gates between it and the lower ones. The result is the presence of baraka…”9
In this place of immense baraka, we are told that one hundred and twenty mercies descend upon the Ka’ba every day and night.10
Similarly, Madina and Jerusalem too, share this connection between earth and the heavens. The Garden, or Rawdah in which God’s Beloved ﷺ rests, is in his words, “a garden from the gardens of Paradise.”11 While the Ka’ba will be destroyed at the End of Time, the Rawda will be returned to Paradise. The beloved Prophet, who is himself the very heart of Madina, is also the bridge between the horizontal and the vertical. We are told that our greetings of peace not only reach him, but that he ﷺ responds likewise in return.12
Jerusalem, significantly, was chosen as the location for perhaps the greatest of all events experienced by any created being, the Isra wa’l Miraj, or Night Journey. The rock that lies at the centre of the Dome of the Rock, on the Sacred Sanctuary of Bayt al-Maqdis, is considered the spot from which the Blessed Prophet ﷺ ascended to the heavens. As those who have had the good fortune of placing their hands upon the rock can attest to, a sweet scented musk emanates from it, infusing whatever comes in contact with it. The heavenly scent remains only for a few seconds before it disappears, a reminder that we exist in the temporal realm.
In spite of these commonalities, considerable differences lie in the character of the Sacred Sanctuaries, and in their overarching attributes.
Makkah is not easy to navigate; hot, loud, crowded, hilly, and at times, chaotic, it can overwhelm. But once you manoeuvre through the ‘chaos’ and reach the heart of the city to which every road leads, you find order. A continuous stream flows in a circular motion around the cubic Ka’ba, mirroring the order found in the heavenly cosmos. It is a sight that inspires awe, that moves the heart.
After the majesty of Makkah, Madina is what your heart craves, needs. Madina is not hilly, it is easy to navigate. It is busy but not chaotic. It is hot, but not stifling. At its centre, the heart finds beauty instead of awe, mercy instead of majesty. Mercy is found here because he ﷺ is mercy, the beating heart of the city.
Makkah is Jalal and Madina is Jamal. The awe of Makkah moves the heart, and the beauty of Madina envelops it. Like Allah’s Attributes, they complement one another.
Jerusalem is different. Unlike Makkah and Madina, al-Quds is not exclusively reserved for Muslims. It is sacred for all three Abrahamic faiths and when Sayyidina Umar ibn al-Khattab (ra) first entered as its new ruler, he ensured adherents of all three faiths had access to the city. Walking around today, the traces of history are visible everywhere, and there are painful reminders of the violent occupiers of the past and of the present. Significantly, al-Aqsa still retains that inexplicable quality that only exists in a Haram; it is perhaps best explained by the words of the Messenger ﷺ when he stated, “How blessed is al-Sham! The Companions around asked: “Why is that?” The Messenger (saw) replied, “I see the angels of Allah spread their wings over al-Sham.” Ibn Abbas added, “and the Prophets lived in it. There is not a single inch in al-Quds where a Prophet has not prayed or an angel not stood.”13
There is a further distinction; the sanctity of Bayt al-Maqdis extends to the surrounding land of Palestine, as alluded to in the Hadith above (Sham refers to Greater Syria and Palestine) and as established by Allah in the Qur’an: “Glory to Him who made His servant travel by night from the sacred place of worship to the furthest place of worship, whose surroundings We have blessed, to show him some of Our signs: He alone is the All Hearing, the All Seeing.”14
If Makkah is Jalal and Madina is Jamal, Jerusalem is Shaheed, the Witness.
This is a land that has witnessed empires rise and fall and past nations flourish and wither; it has seen prophets and kings – and prophets who were kings. It has embraced the Friend of God and the One who conversed with God; it has watched the ascension of the Messiah and the ascension of the Praised One. It has seen prophecies fulfilled and miracles unfold; the destruction of tyrants and the making of saints. It has heard the calls of the people of Truth and the lies of the distorters of Truth, and it has tasted the blood of the martyrs – those who have borne and continue to bear witness to Truth alongside it.
This was the land chosen by God for the Prophets of all nations to gather and stand in prayer behind the Chosen One, bearing witness that he is the Final Messenger, the Seal of the Prophets ﷺ. But there is more yet to witness. We are told that before the End of Time, al-Quds will be liberated from falsehood, and for the first time, become the capital of the people of Truth, led by the Mahdi.
The heart is moved by the awe of Makkah, enveloped by the mercy of Madina, and fortified by the courage of Jerusalem, for Jerusalem is the Witness.
Footnotes
- Sahih al-Bukhari ↩︎
- Sunan Ibn Majah ↩︎
- Sahih Muslim ↩︎
- Quran 5:21 ↩︎
- Dr Mostafa Al-Badawi, Man and the Universe,11. ↩︎
- Ibid, 19. ↩︎
- Quran 52:4. ↩︎
- About which the Angel Jibreel (as) stated, “This is the Bayt al Mamur where 70,000 angels enter it daily for worship and when they leave they never return to it…” [Bukhari; Muslim]. ↩︎
- Al-Badawi, 10-11. ↩︎
- ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbas (Allah be pleased with him) reports the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “One hundred and twenty mercies descend upon the Ka’ba every day and night; sixty for those performing tawaf, forty for those engaged in Salat and twenty for those who are merely looking at the Ka’ba.” [Tabarani, al-Mu’jam Al-Kabira/al-Mu’jam al-Awsat; Bayhaqi, Shu’b al-Iman] ↩︎
- Sahih al-Bukhari ↩︎
- The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “Send prayers of blessings upon me, for indeed your prayers of blessings reach me wherever you may be.” [Bayhaqi, Hayat al-Anbiya fi Quburihim]. The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “No one sends greetings of peace to me except that Allah returns my spirit to me, and I return their greeting of peace.” [Ibid.] ↩︎
- Tirmidhi and Imam Ahmad ↩︎
- Quran 17:1 ↩︎
